Impromptu TFF Meetup SE Minnesota

[Bev]

Howdy All

 

Nov. 4, 5, 6 2016

 

Any who would like to hunt fossils in Southeast Minnesota are welcome to come meet at my place - Whispering Winds, 505 W. Park St., Spring Valley, MN. Spring Valley is 10 miles north of the Iowa line on Hwy. 63/16. Raggedy Man (trilobite hunter) is coming from Wisconsin and the more the merrier!

 

We've had two torrential downfalls with major flooding in the last 30 days, so lots of fresh fossils out there. Go to my fossil blog (link below) and take a look at the category "Fillmore County Hunts". A map of Spring Valley which pinpoints my place is in the Educational Tours tab on the bar.

 

Weather forecast is for highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s with SUNSHINE! We've had two hard frosts so the bugs and snakes are down and so are many of the weeds!

 

FREE CAMPING! Parking in the pasture.

 

 

My upstairs is currently empty but suited for guests with a queen size memory foam bed - first come first serve.  :-D

 

I have fossil hunting maps for Fillmore County and Winona County in my fossil barn. I have fossil prep areas in that barn open to TFF members.

 

This is FREE, FUN, Fossil Hunting!!!       

 

 

[FossilDudeCO]

Man, if I didn't have our big fundraiser tomorrow....

[caldigger]

I have plans over the weekend, but it sounds like a great time. Besides, it would be Monday by the time I get there if I were to leave tomorrow.

Take pictures of the event so we can go vicariously.

[FossilDudeCO]

45 minutes ago, caldigger said:

I have plans over the weekend, but it sounds like a great time. Besides, it would be Monday by the time I get there if I were to leave tomorrow.

Take pictures of the event so we can go vicariously.

 

Good call!

Bev usual has good pictures too!

Of course you could also stop in Denver and / or Wyoming on your way to Bev's  party!

[Raggedy Man]

1 hour ago, FossilDudeCO said:

 

Good call!

Bev usual has good pictures too!

Of course you could also stop in Denver and / or Wyoming on your way to Bev's  party!

Next time I'm in Denver..I'm definitely going to hit you up!

[FossilDudeCO]

I will be here!

1 hour ago, Raggedy Man said:

Next time I'm in Denver..I'm definitely going to hit you up!

 

[sixgill pete]

Looking forward to the pictures.

[Carl]

I'll be there in spirit, Bev!

[ynot]

Looks like a good time. Wish I could be there, but alas it is to far for Me to travel to!

Good luck!!

 

Tony

[Bev]

Thanks Guys for your wonderfully supportive comments. So far it is just Raggedy Man, his wife, and me. However, I'll post lots of pics of our hunt however it goes!  :-D

 

[smt126]

Hope you guys are having fun. Wish I could be there too.

[Bev]

What FUN!!!  It couldn't have been more perfect weather for early November fossil hunting in Minnesota, upper 60s and even 70 degrees in November! Sunshine! Light breezes! And Good Company!  :-D  Raggedy Man and "phantom wife" Laura showed up on Friday and set up camp down by the trout stream in my yard. This was an autumn vacation for the couple from their demanding jobs. I only went out with them Saturday afternoon, but I got a haul!!! I will let them share what they got, for the most part... :-)

 

They weren't back before noon on Saturday, so I decided to go to the drywash that Raggedy Man and I had hunted before...

 

 

Well, no drywash here! The floods of the last month had made it a small river!

 

 

Worse yet, my truck DIED! I got towed Sunday and still don't know what is wrong. Hoping it is a fuel filter.

 

 

It was deer opening, so I got home via a generous hunter. But I did find these when we went back for the truck.

 

 

I'm thinking a Maclurites...

 

 

Still not sure about the round fossil but the other is a worn Fisherites.

 

Got back and the lovebirds came rolling in and we hit F-15 on my map first. They are trilobite hunters and into splitting rock. I'm a gastropod hunter and like to walk along and just pick them up.  :-)

 

 

Yummm, escargot!  LOL  :-D

 

 

 

Continued...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bev]

Could me a Maclurites...

 

 

But so worn it could be something else.

 

 

I was working my way down the drywash. Obviously fall after a hard wind, but the weather was beautiful, the air was clean and fresh with the earthy smell of fall, hawks were floating overhead lacing the wind with their calls, and the ancient seabed was a call to the historian in me.

 

 

The ancient Ordovician seabed was eroding out of and off of the hill side. Every single rock was fossilized! Death beds of the Ordovician sea floor were in every rock. What a bonanza and what to take home or leave?!?  But it is like that in so much of Fillmore County, Minnesota - the ancient seashore of the Ordovician.

 

 

I love this 3D graptolite!

 

Continued...

 

 

 

 

 

[Bev]

 

I think this is a Thaleops trilobite cephalon.

 

 

So you see it???

 

 

It looks like a long, narrow Hormatoma so I'm thinking a Subulites sp. gastropod.

 

 

And then a ran across this very cool stick with all of the tracks in it!

 

 

Raggedy Man's wife, Laura, with my stick. I think it will become a very nice walking stick.

 

 

Wow, the last thing I hit in this drywash was this totally gnarly old grapevine - magnificent!

 

Laura found this GREAT crinoid plate with a bonus!

 

 

A curved cephalopod!

 

Continued...  :-)

 

 

 

[Bev]

 

The end of Laura's crinoid plate has a curved cephalopod!!!

 

And I'm not sure if this is a broken brach or a trilo ceph...

 

 

 

 

Then we went over to the campground site. An eight of a mile both sides with an abandoned quarry, which we didn't even have time to explore!

 

 

Beautiful day!

 

Wonderful pickings!

 

 

Check out these layers!

 

Continued...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bev]

 

Fisherites in a clay layer between bedrock.

 

 

Yummm, more shale!

 

 

Perhaps a Lisopera, but it is pretty squashed.

 

 

Nice small hash plate with good composition and NOT HEAVY!  :-D

 

 

The view from the back of the pickup as the sun was setting on a day of fruitful fossil hunting!  :-D

 

 

 

My haul for the day!

 

 

Oh yes, and there was this rock that was too big to pickup at the "drywash" with what I believe was a ceph imprint.

 

WONDERFUL WEEKEND and MinnBuckeye even stopped by as Paul and Laura were preparing to leave and we had a great  chat!

 

TFF if the BEST!!!   :-D

 

[ynot]

Sounds like a wonderful time!!

Thanks for sharing!

Sorry I could not be there to share all the fun!

 

Tony

[Raggedy Man]

Ha see...she does exist! LOL

[smt126]

Looks like some great finds. Can't wait to see the rest.